We made a Felt Owl Busy Bag Activity in September and my boys are still playing with it. They call it the "owl puzzle" and love to get it out and put the pieces back together. This inspired me to make them a "turkey puzzle" to start gearing up for Thanksgiving. This is easy to make and turns out really cute!
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You need:
- Felt - brown, orange, yellow, red, blue, green and a background of your choosing (I did a cream color).
- Googly eyes
- Velcro
- Scissors
- Mod Podge or other fabric glue
Directions:
Start by tracing a circle out of your brown felt. This will be the body. I used a saucer and it was the perfect size. Cut out your circle.
Then cut out 5 teardrop shapes for feathers - red, blue, orange, yellow, & green. I did the first one freehand and then traced each subsequent one so they were fairly uniform.
Cut out a small diamond out of yellow felt for the nose, a small teardrop shape out of red felt for the wattle, and a two feet shapes out of orange felt.
Add a small square of velcro to the back of your googly eyes. You want to put the stiffer hook side of the velcro on the back of the eyes so that it will stick to the felt.
I actually experimented with two different sized eyes - I liked the bigger ones but my 2 year old thought it looked like an owl, so he chose a smaller size. Go figure!
Next, cover the back of your brown felt circle in Mod Podge or fabric glue. Adhere this to the center of your background piece of felt.
This is what your pieces will look like before assembly:
And after!
I gave the puzzle to one of my toddlers already assembled so he knew what it would look like. He immediately took all the pieces off and began trying to make his own turkey.
It was a little abstract but that's half the fun!
My toddlers love taking the turkey apart and putting it back together again. This is a great activity to put in a busy bag for restaurants, waiting rooms, or of course, the Thanksgiving table! No mess and they can play over and over again. Too cute and so fun!